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The Babylon Sisters' Thursday matinee

March 17, 2006

"The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones, might have moseyed a little too long. But we both liked the spare lives and unsparing landscape along the West Texas-Mexico border.

(Oops: Thanks to technical magic, you might first hear our voice test and then a pause. Hang on: We're there, pardner.)

Posted by Barbara Page at 12:19 PM |

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Posted by: Jeff Commings | March 21, 2006 12:22 PM

Thanks, ladies. I saw the film last weekend and wasn't enlightened by it. I thought the acting was great, but what was the lesson to be learned by taking the patrolman to Mexico? That he will quit his job and move out of Texas? That the Tommy Lee Jones character will finally have some peace? Not that there's anything wrong with lots of unanswered question, but this one left some obvious ones hanging.

Plus, what is this hubbub surrounding Tommy Lee's final word? I must have missed something in the interpretation.

Posted by: bpage | March 21, 2006 01:19 PM

Hey, Jeff, thanks for the comment -- and thanks for listening!
I'll leave the other Fab Bab, Nancy, to comment on the final word (or not), but I thought I'd take a crack at the lesson(s) learned. It's my own take and not necessarily what Nancy might feel.
We ran an I&O column this week that suggested the strength of the movie is that it shows the anguish and ardor of immigration in reverse. What migrants go through coming north, the Border Patrol officer experiences going south. I think there's some merit in that perspective.
But I think the film also goes deeper into the search for our own "resting places" in the cosmos. Jimenez, Mal's hometown in Mexico, was a ruin, just abandoned stones, but for him it was home. For Pete, Jones' character, bringing Mal -- a man he considered his son -- home was essential to finding his own peace and his own place. I also think he thought it was important to redeem the Border Patrol officer -- another son.
I agree with you that a lot of questions are left unanswered -- though I do think Pete stays in Mexico -- but I didn't have any problem with that. Sometimes I just enjoy the murk!
What struck me most about the movie was the landscape, how harsh it can be, how beautiful it can be and how much it is home to all of us on life's rugged journey.
Stay in touch!

Posted by: Nancy | March 22, 2006 11:07 AM

Hi Jeff, nice to hear from ya.
The word I thought Jones delivered so well was "son," when he addressed the Border Patrol agent the final time. He had used the word with Malquiades, considered him a son. When he used it with the agent, in a single word, he forgave and embraced him, and projected a sense of closure for all involved.
I agree with Barbara that Jones likely stays in Mexico, but I'm not so sure about the agent. His wife left him, so his life will change. And he'll most definitely be a different kind of person.
Take care (we miss you), Nancy

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